Tag: Spritz

Coffee Spritz, when the cocktail of the aperitif smells of coffee – Italian Cuisine

The Lavazza Flagship Store in Milan presents the new drink card created in collaboration with Campari Academy. Here is the Spritz recipe based on cold brew

A toast to the beautiful season, for a special aperitif able to refresh and at the same time give a little more energy. The Flagship Store Milanese of Lavazza, overlooking Piazza San Fedele, a few steps from the Duomo, officially welcomes the summer with a new cocktail proposal, pardon, of CoffeTail and drinks made in collaboration with the bartenders of Campari Academy. An encounter between unexpected tastes that comes on when the coffee enters the glass, as explained by Gustavo Calì, manager of Campari Academy. «Coffee is an extremely valuable ingredient in mixology, but it must somehow be tamed and used in the most appropriate way. Its taste is generally very strong and tends to cover all the others, so it is necessary to use the right amount: in this way its aromas can give new nuances even to the most usual combinations .

Here then that among the great classics in paper peep novelties like the Milan Mule, based on white vermouth and ginger, enriched by the delicate notes of the elderflower tonic, and the Bittersweet Paloma, a blend of the increasingly famous Paloma a tequila base and a Garibaldi. But above all the Coffee Bubble Sangria, a fresh and light bubble drink with coffee beads thanks to the addition of vermouth and ginger ale; and the Coffee Spritz, a variation on the theme in a less alcoholic key than the ubiquitous Spritz, prepared this time with the addition of cold coffee, the now popular Cold Brew. Here then is the recipe, to try to prepare it at home too in view of the next aperitif on the terrace with friends.

Coffee Spritz

Ingredients

50 ml of Aperol
10 ml of sugar syrup
15 ml of sparkling water
30 ml of concentrated cold brew
1 orange peel
100 g of cubed ice

Method

Preparation of cold brew
Put the ground coffee in the Toddy container, the cold brew machine. Measure the water and pour it on the ground coffee so as to wet it evenly. Leave to infuse for 8/12 hours at room temperature. Strain and keep in the fridge.

Preparation of the cocktail
Put the ice in the tumbler. Pour the Aperol, the sugar syrup and add the soda water. Complete with the addition of cold brew on the surface. Insert an orange rind and two straws, then serve.

The Spritz rule – Italian Cuisine – Italian Cuisine

The most popular Italian cocktail in the world has been attacked by a well-known American newspaper and the Spritz lovers have risen up in its defense. The secret to doing it exceptional? It is only one: Prosecco Superiore

"Not a good cocktail". Thus the American newspaper The New York Times a few days ago he struck down the Spritz, the trendiest aperitif of the moment in the USA, a nation that adores everything that has to do with Italy, from trendy food to furniture, but above all theItalian life style, that way of life, so unique and characteristic of the Belpaese. Thousands have risen up in defense of Spritz, with comments on social media against the article signed by journalist Rebekah Peppler.

But always The New York Times Spritz was crowned as a "2018 aperitif": what happened in the space of a few months? To tell the truth, the article is not against the cocktail itself, but rather criticizes the use of cheap Prosecco in the preparation. And we can only agree: if in the kitchen we prepare excellent dishes only starting from excellent ingredients, to drink a quality Spritz, we must start with an excellent Prosecco. Indeed from best Prosecco Superiore.

Brief history of the Spritz

It seems that the Spritz drinking fashion began in the nineteenth century, when Austrian soldiers in Veneto began to "spray"Italian white wine with sparkling water to dilute it a little (spritzen, in German, means spray). A very pleasant drink, but something was missing. That "something" was a touch of bitters, of bitter, which came with the invention developed in 1919 in Bassano del Grappa by the Barbieri brothers, who created an alcoholic infusion with about thirty secret ingredients, including orange peel, roots, herbs and spices.

It was a success and the Spritz became the inevitable orange drink on the tables of the Venetian bars, also in red, in the original Venetian variant that foresees the use of the Select – also by Campari – instead of the Aperol. A colorful wave that from the Veneto has spread first along the boot and then in clubs around the world, for an irresistible "Aperitif time" in Italian style.

Better if Superior

In short, "You can't think well, love well, sleep well, if you haven't eaten – and drunk (ed)- well". As Virginia Woolf wrote, quality, beauty and pleasure always go hand in hand. And in the preparation of Spritz we start from the choice of Prosecco, a must-have ingredient, very imitated but irreplaceable. In a hypothetical quality pyramid, at the base we find in fact the vineyards of the plains of Veneto and Friuli that produce Prosecco DOC and at the top, from the more steep hills of Valdobbiadene, Conegliano and Asolo, Prosecco Superiore DOCG. The vineyards of Valdobbiadene in particular differ from the others in their height and slope, characteristics that guarantee perfect exposure and maturation to the grapes. The strong temperature changes, due to the particular position halfway between Venice and Cortina and to the fresh winds that blow from the Dolomites, allow to better enhance the varietal characteristics of glera, the main grape variety used to produce Prosecco. Only from the steepest vineyards, heroically and rigorously cultivated by hand, are born the different and unique nuances of Prosecco Superiore.

Recipe

How to prepare the ideal Spritz? We asked him to Bisol1542, historic company for the production of Prosecco Superiore, born in 1542 in the heart of heroics hills of Valdobbiadene. "First you need to choose the type of Prosecco Superiore, which must always be of the highest quality," they tell us. "Our Brut He believes it is the driest type, with a sugar residue of 7.5 g / l, from clayey, fresh, sapid, fine soils; the Molera Extra Dry, softer, comes from calcareous soils and has a delicate texture, with a broad floral bouquet and a creamy and persuasive perlage; while the typology Dry it is fully characterized in the Cartizze, the maximum expression of the territory, with an intense and elegant sip ". "We propose a Spritz based on Molera Prosecco Superiore DOCG Bisol 1542 (7.5 cl), which we mix with Select (5 cl) and Seltz (2.5 cl) and complete with ice and, to taste, with 1 green olive or 1 slice of lemon ".

The rose in the kitchen: from syrup to Spritz – Italian Cuisine

From Constantinople the rose arrives on the tables of Genoa and Venice, hundreds of years ago

The use of the rose in the kitchen comes from afar, in space and over time. This millenary tradition, in fact, comes from Asia, passing through the two cities that for centuries have been the main gates to the Middle East: Genoa is Venice. It is here that even more is used rose in the kitchen, according to techniques and processes that the Italians learned in Constantinople during exchanges, travels and migrations. In particular, in Genoa and its surroundings, roses are really found everywhere: on balconies, in vegetable gardens, in gardens. "The Genoese have such a strong passion for roses that as soon as they start they start looking for wild canines", Says Viviane Crosa, one of the most important producers. And then, always in the Genoa area, with its fresh rose petals, a rarity has long been prepared, inextricably linked to this territory: the rose syrup, which in the past was given warmth to children at the onset of the first flu symptoms.

Roses in the kitchen

The best roses to use in the kitchen are the ancient ones, such as the muscosa centifolia or rugosa, typical of the Genoese tradition, which have been selected over time to reach a rusticity and a degree of adaptation to the ideal territory for a "natural" cultivation. Their use appears already in a text dating back to the seventeenth century that reads that the preserves that are processed in Genoa are the most excellent in the world. In the kitchen they can be used both as mere decorations; both in more creative dishes; both in products that are prepared historically, such as confetti, preserves is jams. Better if you are sure of the quality of the product, like small companies Rossi confectionery that prepares the classic Genoa Cake, with the variant to roses, that is perfumed with infusions of fresh petals. And then there is it Rose syrup, which for some years has also become a Slow Food Presidium as a rare and elitist product, deeply linked to Genoa and its surroundings. If the roses are still so present here, it is thanks to those who have worked a lot for their recovery, like Viviane Crosa: French native of Nice, married to a Genoese, she has an organic production company "Il Giardino delle Dalie" and it is the President of theThe Rose of the Scrivia Valley Association, which in June also organizes the Rose Festival of Busalla, in the province of Genoa. The Association also includes a series of farmhouses that offer a menu based on roses, such as Salvega of Casella, Autra of Savignone, Artemisia is Cat of Montoggio.

(GERMANY OUT) Der Rosengarten der Familie Ibba in Monschau-Höfen ist ein ca. 1,000 m2 Bio-Landhaus with 140 Rosensorten, Gemüse, Kräutern, Kletterpflanzen, Stauden, einjährigen Sommerblumen. Eine besondere Specialization of the Rosenmarmelade und der Rosensirup aus eigener Herstellung (Photo by JOKER / Gudrun Petersen / ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Rose syrup

The rose syrup Presidium is born to protect the handmade product from the poor versions that are around, with preservatives or dyes. For this reason it is very important to enhance and get to know those who still prepare it according to the traditional Genoese recipe, that is starting from fresh flower, with the petals of the more fragrant varieties, grown sustainably and away from sources of pollution. Therefore, when the fresh product is needed, it is produced only during the flowering period, that is from May to June, even if the syrup is then available throughout the year. About a dozen producers remained to prepare it like this, as the company of Maria Giulia Scolaro of Savignone o The undergrowth by Luca Delpian in Tiglieto, in the Orba Valley, which follows the recipe that for years has been handed down only orally, without leaving any written source.

Rose Syrup Recipe

Ingredients
500 g of ancient rose petals
1 liter of water
some slices of untreated lemons
1000 g of sugar

Method
Dip the ancient rose petals with the lemon slices in the boiling water. Turn off the heat and let it soak for at least 24 hours. Then strain the liquid and press the mass of petals.
Add the sugar and bring back to the boil for a few minutes.

How to use syrup

Once ready, rose syrup can be used in an infinite number of ways. The Association Le Rose della Valle Scrivia, through research and testimonies in the field, has recovered some old recipes based on syrup. So today we can find it in tea instead of sugar, on ice cream, on panna cotta, on fresh ricotta, on fruit salad, on sponge cake or on seasonal fruit. Not least is its consumption as appetizer: there is it Rose spritz, the Rose mohito or even just diluted with Prosecco or white wine. And for abstainers, it is enough just with a little water. The important thing is to continue using this product, as a production and an integral part of the Genoese culture and gardens.